Chapter 120: Let’s meet
Vanessa
The last two months had been peaceful.
Peaceful enough that I had almost started believing things could remain that way for a while.
My mum was slowly getting better. Not fully healed, not anywhere close to the woman she used to be, but there was improvement. Small improvements that I clung to desperately because they were all I had.
The video calls still weren’t enough.
They would never be enough.
No matter how many times I saw her face through the screen, it couldn’t replace being there with her physically. It couldn’t replace holding her hand or sitting beside her in silence the way I used to before everything became complicated.
But it was all I could get.
Nico refused to let me travel, and arguing with him about it never led anywhere productive. So instead, I stayed within the estate grounds.
The estate itself was massive.
Large enough that sometimes I could walk around for an hour and still not see everything. Beautiful too. Quiet. Secure. Almost comforting if I ignored the reality behind why I was trapped there in the first place.
And after everything that had happened to Carmen, I couldn’t deny that a part of me was afraid to leave.
The last thing I wanted was to get kidnapped.
I didn’t think I could jump out of a moving car the way Carmen had. Worse, I didn’t have the same confidence she seemed to carry around. I didn’t believe Nico would turn the world upside down searching for me if something happened.
Not really.
At the end of the day, I knew exactly what I was to him.
A beautiful decoration.
A fancy painting hung carefully on a wall.
Nothing more.
Even I could no longer see my own relevance in his life anymore. All that remained was the debt I owed and the understanding that I would stay until I was no longer needed.
That was all.
Still, Adam continued calling me relentlessly.
And still, I ignored every single one of his calls.
After my conversation with Carmen, it became painfully obvious that the entire Mivite issue was much bigger than I had originally thought. Bigger, darker, and more dangerous than I wanted to involve myself in.
I didn’t care about Adam’s threats anymore.
I would grovel in front of Nico if I had to.
Anything was better than continuing to sneak around searching for dirt I was almost certain I would never find.
Nico was too smart.
Far too smart to leave incriminating evidence carelessly lying around his study or office for someone like me to stumble across.
That much had become clear.
After grabbing snacks from the kitchen with the intention of returning to my room to continue the television show I had recently started watching, I headed upstairs.
That was when my phone rang.
At first, I assumed it was Adam again.
Apart from my friends, he was the only person who had been calling me consistently as though his life depended on it.
But when I glanced at the screen, I paused.
The call was from the hospital.
Instantly, I answered.
The screen lit up with my mother’s face, and my chest tightened immediately.
She was sitting upright in bed smiling at me.
Her blonde hair was gone now, and she looked thinner every single time I saw her. Frailer. Like a shadow of the woman I grew up knowing.
A shadow slowly fading away.
Tears almost sprang into my eyes, but I forced them back as I stared at her through the screen.
"Mother, you called. Did something happen?" I asked quickly.
She smiled warmly and shook her head, though even that small movement looked exhausting for her.
"No," she said softly. "I just got flowers and it says they’re from your boyfriend. You didn’t tell me you were dating anyone."
Her eyes lit up with excitement in a way I hadn’t seen in a long time.
For a second, I simply stared at her in confusion.
If I had a boyfriend, I felt like I should have been the first person informed.
Then she reached toward the table beside her bed and grabbed a bouquet of elaborate flowers along with a small card attached to them.
Even I had to admit the flowers were beautiful.
Expensive too.
Then she read the card aloud.
"Love, Adam."
My entire body stiffened instantly.
"You’re dating someone, Vanessa!" she said excitedly. "I’m so happy for you. I have to meet him!"
It took every ounce of control I possessed to keep my face calm while anger exploded violently inside me.
"He’s not my boyfriend," I corrected immediately. "He’s just someone chasing me. I don’t really—"
"Don’t be shy," she interrupted, brushing my explanation aside like it meant nothing. "For you to have mentioned me and the hospital I’m staying in, then you two must be pretty close."
I nearly laughed in disbelief.
No, Mother. He’s actually a stalker with an FBI badge who somehow has access to my life.
That was what I wanted to say.
But I couldn’t.
Because if I told her that, then she would start asking questions. Questions that would eventually lead to why an FBI agent was interested in me in the first place.
And that would only make her worry.
The last thing I wanted was for her to stress herself in her current condition.
So instead, I forced a smile onto my face.
"Of course, Mother," I said softly. "If you want to meet him, I’ll find time and we’ll—"
But before I could finish, she leaned back against her pillow with a tired sigh.
Her eyes softened as she looked at me through the screen.
"If possible, I would like you to marry soon," she admitted quietly. "I want to see you happy, Vanessa. I want you to have someone beside you just in case... just in case I..."
I cut her off immediately.
"I already told you I don’t like that kind of talk," I said firmly, though my voice came out softer than I intended. "You’re getting better."
Even as I said it, I wanted to scream.
Did she understand the sacrifices I was making just to keep her alive?
Dying?
She couldn’t die.
She just couldn’t.
"Rest," I told her carefully. "I’ll call you again before I go to bed."
She nodded weakly in response.
I greeted the nurse assigned to her care before finally ending the call.
The moment the screen went dark, rage surged through me.
Without hesitation, I dialed Adam’s number.
He answered after only a few rings.
"How dare you?" I hissed immediately, lowering my voice despite the fury burning through me. "How fucking dare you?"
I glared at the wall in front of me while still clutching the bag of chips tightly in my hand.
"You sent flowers to my mother just to get to me? That was low. That was fucking low even for you."
"The flowers?" Adam responded calmly. "She liked the gesture. Besides, I needed an excuse to send them."
There was smugness hidden beneath his tone.
"I also found out you don’t have a boyfriend," he continued casually. "Now you do."
My anger intensified instantly.
He was manipulative.
That was exactly what this was.
It felt like he was slowly tying a noose around my neck while dragging me wherever he wanted.
"You will stay away from my mother, Adam," I warned coldly. "I don’t want you sending her anything or going anywhere near her."
"Or what?" he asked calmly. "I tried calling you, but you made it very clear you didn’t want to speak to me anymore. What other choice did I have?"
"You could have taken the hint," I snapped furiously.
Then I added the only threat I could think of.
"If you keep chasing me, I’ll tell Nico."
Adam laughed softly through the phone.
"You won’t," he said immediately. "You’re keeping me around as backup in case something happens. Yet you’re unwilling to help me. That much is obvious."
"Then I’ll send a letter to your bosses for disorderly conduct," I shot back instantly.
His voice remained calm.
"Go ahead," he replied. "Send it. It’ll just give me more time to visit your mother."
I clenched my jaw hard.
"Nico isn’t just a project to me," Adam continued. "He’s a life goal. Getting fired won’t change that."
Then he ended the call.
Just like that.
The smugness in his voice infuriated me even more.
That calm certainty.
That irritating confidence that made him sound so much like Nico sometimes.
Like everything was already under his control.
I still had no intention of dealing with him further until another message appeared on my screen moments later.
{Let’s meet one more time. I have something to show you. If you don’t agree, then I’ll leave you alone.}
I stared at the message for several long seconds.
Temptation curled quietly inside me.
Part of me wanted to know what he had discovered.
But another part of me knew better.
Adam was dangerous in his own way.
Letting out a tired sigh, I switched off my phone completely and headed back toward my room.
I intended to focus on only one thing for the rest of the night.
The movie I had originally planned to watch.
